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Drug testing surprise

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Preliminary figures on a new Florida law requiring drug tests for welfare applicants show that they are less likely than other people to use drugs, not more. One famous Floridian suggests that it's the people who came up with the law who should be submitting specimens.

Columnist and best-selling author Carl Hiaasen offered to pay for drug testing for all 160 members of the Florida Legislature in what he called "a patriotic whiz-fest." Several of the law's supporters say they're on board.

Time for a "patriotic whiz-fest" in Washington, too?

"Donald Trump is a phony, a fraud... [he's] playing the American public for suckers." Mitt Romney

Re: Drug testing surprise

I do hope they make random drug screening part of receiving benefits - and it wouldn't hurt to screen every federal employee including elected officials in the same random manner.

I don't want to see religious bigotry in any form. It would disturb me if there was wedding between the religious fundamentalists and political right. The hard right has no interest in religion except to manipulate it. ~ Billy Graham in Parade magazine February 1, 1981.

Re: Drug testing surprise

Drug testing through urinalysis is easy to pass...you can buy masking agents at headshops for $15-100 (depending on quality), and there's always fake urine/using somebody else's urine (for marijuana). Urinalysis doesn't typically test for the drug found in "magic mushrooms" or for MDMA. Cocaine/crack, heroin, and most pill-form narcotics are only detectable in urine for 3 days...so it's all about timing.

Random testing is really the only way to get an honest sample of who is/isn't using, and even then it's tricky. I had one employer who issued random tests. You had to go to the test clinic immediate upon receiving the random test notice and only had a 15-20 minute window for check-in (most maskers take an hour to be effective). They were serious about catching people using.

Re: Drug testing surprise

Just another government invasion of privacy. Be a government stooge and go along with it...then watch them whittle away at some other right like the moronic governor of North Carolina who believes we should suspend the next election.

Re: Drug testing surprise

Originally Posted by coolwalker

Just another government invasion of privacy. Be a government stooge and go along with it...then watch them whittle away at some other right like the moronic governor of North Carolina who believes we should suspend the next election.

I believe your right to privacy ends at the point at which you are breaking the law. Even though I may disagree with the law to some extent, drug use is illegal. I don't really see random testing as a qualifier for employment or receipt of government money for personal subsistence as a violation of any right. It's a mandatory obligation for a voluntary process.